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November 18, 2004
Two Sonnets
These poems are responsible for the name of this blog. They were published in the second edition of Ghetto Monk by the author of the excellent Junkmail for Blankets. For some reason that cannot be ascertained and is unimportant, my name was listed as Neil Dassler. My good friend Kraus began to call me that and then coined the "Dassler Effect," after some deft and quick runs and scores on my part in a pick-up game of pole-goal soccer.
All of which has nothing to do with the contents of these poems, which are my response to the challenging Hindu parable about the blind man and the elephant. They are also a take on epistomology and revelation in general.
A blind man groped and grasped through darkened air
And caught in tender hands a hairy cord,
Then searched through sightless memories for a pair,
And cried, "The thing's a rope, upon my word!"
Three comrades also shared that darkened road,
And paused to hear the outcry of the first,
Then turned with eager, seeing hands to code
For themselves the object and its worth.
The story is well known. The other three
Conclude the thing's a wall, a tree, a snake,
When a pachyderm's to blame. Respectively,
His tail, side, leg, and trunk feed each mistake.
And so the Eastern clerics make their claim:
The Thing is found despite misgiven names.
TWO SONNETS
While people grope and grasp through darkened air,
They know that life is not unending night.
Sun-warmed winds that caress and lift their hair
Declare the world is not dark; they lack sight.
So far the Eastern clerics' tale's the same,
And I will nod, man stumbles through the world,
But insist the Thing when met has but one Name.
It's with the elephant I have my quarrel.
All tales are built on what they presuppose.
Is what is met a thing, a passive force,
That lumbers on life's road, self undisclosed?
So claims the ancient parable of course.
Perhaps it is a who, Who reveals and speaks,
Forgives and loves and heals, and blind men seeks.
| By jackdas | 10:27 PM
Comments
geez, dassler, how many times do i have to apologize for that?
the Editor
Posted by: Anonymous at November 23, 2004 3:58 PM
ah, jeremy, my sole commenter, no apology needed for my snazzy nom de plume, er, nom de blog
Posted by: Neil E. Das at November 23, 2004 4:14 PM
